Page 33 of Hell of a Mess
There it was. The truth that I’d never been able to voice. My real identity. Doing so would have cost me my life. And now that the truth was out there, it might still.
“Who the fuck is she?” Linc roared.
I winced, taking a step back. Bolting from this house, from my lies, from all that I’d lived through tempted me, but I knew they’d catch me.
“Lassandra Madison Halsten. She turned twenty-nine three days ago,” Dr. Burl said. “She was the firstborn of Alpheus’s first wife, Ravina Champman Halsten. Dalia was the second born. Medical records are public, but these were locked. I was able to make a call and have them released to me privately.”
I’d turned twenty-nine three days ago? Repressed memories began to surface, and I closed my eyes tightly as they flooded me. My mom, a meadow covered in wildflowers, a birthday cake, her playing a radio and dancing with me around the picnic blanket.
Our little secret.My special day that no one could ever know about. It had been in early spring.
I heard muttering, cursing, even shouting, but my world was spinning. I felt off-balance. Even as happy memories of my mother came back to me, I knew I was in danger. But hadn’t I always been just at the edge of it? My life had been a never-ending struggle. One where I had no choices of my own. I was tired. Tired of it all. Was this life truly worth fighting for?
Hands gently clasped my arms, and I didn’t have to open my eyes to see it was Jayda. They weren’t large and masculine.
“Come with me,” she said softly.
The other voices in the room became clearer now that I’d been snapped back to the present.
“What the actual fuck, Dad?!” I heard Locke’s voice.
“There is no way this could be wrong?” Linc asked.
“No,” the doctor replied. “If I wasn’t one hundred percent sure, I’d have never brought this to you.”
“Fucking hell,” another male voice said.
“I’m taking her out of here,” Jayda told them, and no one replied.
I went with her, too tired to fight. Unsure what to do. Howwould my father react to this? No one was to ever know. But…he wasn’t my father. How could that be?
The voices faded, and I walked numbly to where Jayda took me. We were going back to the room I had been in before. I said nothing, but I had no words.
My life had just exploded, and along with it had come truths I hadn’t known about.
“The only good thing your mother ever did was give birth to your sister, and you ruined her, just like you killed your mother!”My father’s hateful words replayed in my head.
Jayda opened the bedroom door and led me inside. The sunshine that spread throughout the room made the shades of navy and gray that decorated it appear brighter. More cheerful. So at odds with my inner turmoil.
I sank down onto the bed, facing the large window overlooking the backyard. A glass of water appeared in front of me.
“Here, drink,” Jayda urged, and I did.
When I had enough, I handed it back to her and continued to stare straight ahead.
“You know I love you most,” my mother’s singsong voice said when she tucked me into bed. “You’re my beautiful girl.”
The ache that came with that memory was a familiar pang.
“Why don’t you lie down?” Jayda said.
And like the water, I obeyed, tucking my knees up until I was almost in the fetal position. A blanket was draped over me, and while I knew I should thank her, I still didn’t have the will to speak. I could only stare.
Thirteen
Luther
With hell breaking loose in the great room, I was still very aware of Jayda taking Lace out of here. My eyes followed her until they were no longer in view.
